Two PETA members in red bikinis will be crammed together in a tank of “bloody” water with the message “McDonald’s Scalds Chicks to Death” to protest the abuse that chickens suffer in slaughterhouses that supply the fast-food chain.
Why is PETA going after the Golden Arches? McDonald’s currently allows its U.S. chicken suppliers to use a slaughter method that causes many birds to endure broken bones and other abuses. Birds have their throats cut while they are still conscious and are often scalded to death in tanks of hot water. PETA has urged McDonald’s to require its suppliers to adopt an improved slaughter method called “controlled-atmosphere killing” (CAK), which eliminates some of the worst abuses that birds suffer. In 2005, McDonald’s produced a report concluding that CAK offers significant animal welfare benefits over the conventional slaughter method, but the company has not required any of its U.S. suppliers to switch to it.

“McDonald’s has refused to lift a finger to stop its American suppliers from scalding chickens to death and abusing them in other hideous ways,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “McDonald’s customers across the country are now saying, ‘I’m hatin’ it,’ every time they spot the Golden Arches.”

To learn more about the campaign and to watch PETA’s McCruelty video, please visit PETA’s Web site McCruelty.com.